Posts Tagged ‘Bruins’

Part two of the Red Wings’ home and home series with the Boston Bruins took place today at Joe Louis Arena. Jimmy Howard started in net again for the Wings and Tim Thomas started for the Bruins. Brad Stuart was not ready to go so Kindl was still in the lineup in his place.

This was an excellent game for the Wings and for the fans. It was such a fun game to watch. I was on the edge of my seat through almost the entire thing. The battles around the net were amazing and the energy level of both teams was fantastic. It had the feel of a playoff game.

The Wings gave up the first goal of the game pretty early on but they didn’t let it get them down. They continued to battle hard and Bertuzzi was rewarded with a gift when he received a turnover right in front of the Bruins’ net. He took his time and chipped it up and over Tim Thomas to tie the game at one. The Bruins scored a power play goal later in the first so the Wings went to the dressing room down two to one at the first intermission. They were playing pretty well though so I don’t think they were discouraged at all.

In the second period Datsyuk and Draper both scored to give the Wings their first lead of the game. In the third period Franzen and Bertuzzi teamed up on a two on one and Bertuzzi scored to give the Wings a little cushion. Detroit had to kill off a penalty near the end of the game and then the Bruins pulled their goalie to extend the man advantage right up until the end of the game. The Wings kept the pedal to the metal until the final horn and won the game two to four.

These last two games against the Bruins were probably as good as the Red Wings have played all season. And that’s without Modano, Filppula and Stuart. It’s so good to see that they can still play well after several recent sub-par games. If this is a taste of the playoff Wings then I think they’ll be in pretty good shape to go on a run. Jimmy Howard was excellent. The whole team played great defensively and played really well around the net, too. They had tons of second chances and tons of really hard plays at the net. This was textbook Detroit hockey. The Wings have a few days off now as they don’t play again until Thursday.

The Red Wings were on the road tonight to play the first half of a home and home series with the Boston Bruins. The starting goaltenders were Jimmy Howard and Tuukka Rask.

This was a much better performance by the Wings than we’ve seen lately. They played very well tonight. They got off to a good start and kept up the pressure for the entire game. They were great defensively and Jimmy Howard was sharp when he had to be. There was a short stretch in the second period when they seemed to relax a little and the Bruins started coming to life but it was short lived. They essentially dominated the game.

Bertuzzi got the scoring started just 1:10 into the game with a great snapper. Then Cleary got one just a few minutes later when Hudler made an incredible pass to him as he was coming down the slot. Krejci scored a power play goal for the Bruins near the end of the first period to bring them back to within one but that was the only goal the Wings allowed.

Hudler scored a beautiful goal on a one-timer after a brilliant backhand pass from Zetterberg. Then Zetterberg scored with a great backhand shot. Bertuzzi got another goal after stealing a puck that was mishandled by Rask which he banked in from behind the goal line. The puck went off Rask’s pad and then off his mask and into the net.

At the start of the third period Tim Thomas came in to relieve Rask. That didn’t have much effect though. Holmstrom scored one standing in front of the net after Hudler made a great pass to him from behind the net.

The Bruins kept trying to get the Wings to fight but there was no reason for them to do so and I’m glad no one took the bait. They just held the lead coasted to the win.

This was exactly the game the Red Wings needed. It was good, hard-working win. They out played the Bruins all over the ice and they worked as a team. Now the Bruins come to Detroit for a rematch on Sunday afternoon. Hopefully, the Wings will be able to keep the scoring going.

The Boston Bruins came to town to take on the Red Wings tonight. Osgood was in net for the Wings and Tim Thomas was in for the Bruins. Ericsson was still out with the flu and Rafalski was having flu-like symptoms as well. Doug Janik was brought up from Grand Rapids to fill in on Defense. Brad May is still seeing doctors about his eye which has some bleeding in it after he was hit by Jason Williams’ stick while sitting on the bench.

The Wings were able to get through the first few shifts of the game without giving up a goal. That doesn’t sound like much but it’s something they’ve had trouble doing lately.

About halfway through the first period Osgood showed us some magic when Marco Sturm had the puck right in the crease. He had two scoring chances from point blank and Osgood made two spectacular saves.

Later in the first period Sturm was called for hooking and the Wings went on the power play. On the very first faceoff of the power play Datsyuk it to Bergeron but the puck didn’t go far. Zetterberg jumped on it and fired one that surprised Thomas. It was a power play goal for the Wings and it took just two seconds to score it.

A few minutes later Bertuzzi got the puck in his own end. He looked up ice and saw Datsyuk so he tossed the puck to him up in the air to get it by the defender in the neutral zone. Datsyuk corralled it and got control but he didn’t have time to shoot it so he dropped it back for the trailing Holmstrom. Homer pushed it into the net and scored the Red Wings second goal. It was a sweet play and it gave the Wings the two to nothing lead.

There was no scoring in the second period. There were a few good chances at both ends including one by Boston that hit a post. The Red Wings also killed off another penalty at the end of the period.

The third period featured a bit of a penalty parade towards the end, but still no more scoring. Boston pulled their goalie with about a minute and fifteen seconds left but to no avail.

Osgood got the shutout and the Red Wings notched another win. They played very well tonight especially considering all the injuries. Osgood was fantastic, obviously, but it was a good team effort all around; a great win!

Tonight Detroit played the second half of a back to back series. After hosting Columbus last night in Detroit, they faced the Boston Bruins on the road. Ty Conklin was the starter for Wings and Manny Fernandez for was in for the Bruins.

Detroit had some glorious scoring chances early in the first period but didn’t capitalize. The Wings also had a power play early on that Boston was able to kill off aided in part by a monster hit by Chara on Datsyuk that laid him out.

Detroit was dominating the first period up until the eight minute mark. Boston hadn’t had a single shot on goal at that point. Kronwall was caught in a two on one with Lilja trying to catch up. Nobody took away the passing lane and it came to Wheeler who one-timed it for the goal. You can’t fault Conklin on that one since he has to rely on the defense to stop the pass.

Nearing the end of the first period there was some four-on-four play that looked more like a power play for Boston. They were cycling the puck, then got it to the point. They passed it back to Kessel in the middle and he picked the top corner for the Bruins second goal. That one Conklin probably should have had. He went for it with his glove and just missed it.

In the second period the trouble continued. The Bruins forced a turnover by forechecking in the Wings end. The pass went back to Kobasew in the slot who snapped it passed Conklin. Three nothing Bruins. That was the end of Conklin’s night as Ozzy came in to replace him. Ozzy had just played the night before.

Detroit finally scored with about three minutes left in the second period. They were on the power play and Zetterberg passed to Hudler down low. Hudler centered the puck and it went in off the skate of one of the Bruins.

Boston continued to dominate in the third period. They scored an even strength goal when the puck was passed to Krejci in the slot. He beat Osgood with the shot through traffic. It looked like Ozzy had trouble seeing that one around the bodies in front of him.

Detroit was never able to get anything going after that. They didn’t look like their normal selves. Who knows the reason. I could be because of the back to back games, but it could just be that Boston is a really good team and the Wings weren’t ready for them. During the times when Detroit had possession they couldn’t do much with it because the Bruins were always on them. They played really well defensively. When the Wings were able to get some separation and create a scoring chance, Fernandez was there to shut the door. He was in the zone and made some really great saves.

Well, this is a game I’d like to forget but hopefully the Red Wings figure out what went wrong and learn from it. This could be a preview of the Stanley Cup Finals so it’s important to figure these guys out.